Bat Grounding
by Gazlover12-Canada
Summary: Dick's usually always been okay with being grounded by Bruce, that is, until he finds out how easy Wally gets it when grounded by his Uncle Barry. One-shot!


Whenever Bruce grounded Dick, he was very serious about it. No phone, laptop, video games, or television. Also no staying up late if it was a weekend, and absolutely no hanging out with friends. There was usually no patrol either, unless the criminals were a bit overwhelming for Batman, but that usually wasn't the case. Dick would have to go straight to school, and then straight home and do his homework. After that the only things he could spend the rest of the evening doing was reading, studying, or doing something else that was boring.

Since Bruce was of course the world's greatest detective, that meant that he also knew where all of Dick's back up electronics were, no matter what new hiding places that the teen would try. Luckily Bruce usually never grounded him for that long. Actually, the longest he'd ever been grounded for was two weeks, and that was because he'd been extremely disrespectful to his mentor, so he had deserved it.

Usually on days when he was grounded, Dick would choose to follow Alfred around. The old butler was fun to talk to (and mess with) and sometimes he even helped Alfred with the housework to get on Bruce's good side. That never worked though, Bruce never backed down from punishments. He wasn't rash about them either though, usually he was quite reasonable.

Dick honestly was totally okay with being grounded. As mentioned before, he usually knew that he deserved it, and took his punishment in stride. Yes, so he was totally okay with it. Well, until today that is. He was sitting upstairs finishing up some essay about the War of 1812 when his phone started ringing. The caller id showed up as Wally, so he grinned and answered it quickly.

"Hey Wall, what's up?" He said, twirling the dull pencil in his hand.

"Nothing good, that's for sure." Wally replied with a sigh. "Uncle Barry grounded me..."

"Ouch," Dick grimaced. "What for?"

As far as Dick knew, Barry hardly ever punished his nephew. Usually if Wally did something bad then he'd get off with a mild lecture, and get off free except for a promise that he wouldn't do whatever he'd done again.

"Eh, I argued with my teacher about a grade she gave me and she sent me off to the principal's office. Then he was going to give me three night's worth of detentions, which I thought was totally unfair, so I kinda swore at him." Wally explained quickly all in one breath.

Ah, that made sense, Dick supposed. The only thing that Barry really got upset about was 'evil words' as the older speedster called them. Bruce usually just used the word profanity...Anyway, one learned fast to never use curse words in front of Barry. One time Green Arrow had said "shit" after stubbing his toe on a table, and the reaction had been priceless. Barry had gasped overdramatically and screamed "Take that back right now! Evil words only make things worse. How could you use such horrible language?"  
"So how long are you grounded for?" Dick asked curiously.

"Three days," Wally answered sadly. "I don't know how I'm going to live."

"You'll be okay" Dick told him encouragingly, but then something occurred to him. "Hey wait, why isn't your cellphone gone yet?"

"What are you talking about dude?" Wally asked in confusion.

"Well...you're grounded. That means your cellphone is supposed to be taken away." Dick said.

"What? No way dude, Uncle Barry always makes me keep my cellphone on me. That way when I go out I'll have a way to contact my Aunt and Uncle in case I need them." Wally said, in a tone that suggested that was obvious.

"B-But you're grounded!" Dick spluttered, "You can't even go out in the first place!"

"Dick what are you going on about? Why wouldn't I be able to go anywhere?"

"Because you're grounded!" Dick snapped, repeating it for the third time. "Wally, what exactly happens to you when you're grounded?"

"What kind of a question is that? I have to go to bed at ten every night, I have to check in with my Uncle every half hour or so when I'm out alone, friends have to be gone by 6pm on school nights, and I have to do my homework." Wally answered.

"...Wally..."

"Yeah?"

"YOUR UNCLE MAKES YOU DO THOSE THINGS ANYWAY!" Dick shouted in frustration. "How the heck is that even called grounded? Don't you even know the definition of that word? It means this: _Refusing to allow (a child) to go out socially as a punishment._"

"Hey, my Uncle doesn't make me do _all _those things normally!" Wally objected. "He usually lets me stay up till ten thirty on school nights!"

"Oh okay, so your Uncle's so called _grounding _is just an early bedtime. If you can even call ten an early bedtime." Dick said sarcastically, grinding his teeth together in frustration. "Dude, you honestly don't know how good you have it. When Bruce grounds me, I can't go anywhere, use any electronics, and I have to be in bed by eight, with the option of reading a book till eight thirty."

"Geez, that sucks for you I guess. But remember Rob, we don't all have the Bat for a guardian. That's your problem." Wally told him, almost seriously.

Dick just sighed. "Wally, even kids with normal parents probably don't get it as easily as you do." He said.

"Well...that's not my problem?"

"You know what, have fun with your _grounding_, if you can even call it that. I have homework to do." He said, snapping his phone shut.

Three Weeks Later:

A few weeks after his phone call with Wally, Dick himself had gotten grounded yet again, thankfully only for the weekend. Nonetheless, currently Bruce was raiding his room, taking all of his technology.

"Bruce, can't you at least let me have my phone? Or the TV?" He half begged. Bruce raised an eyebrow as he dug through dick's sock drawer, pulling out his three backup phones.

"You already know how this works Dick." He pointed out. "You can have them back Monday."

"But..But...But Wally gets to have his phone when he's grounded!" Dick blurted out. "His Uncle only reduces his bedtime by a half hour! Why can't you do that?"

"Dick, I am not Barry, nor will I ever be." Bruce said firmly. "Barry..well, he's a few sandwiches short of the picnic sometimes."

"Huh? He always brings more than enough food to picnics..." Dick pointed out in confusion.

"It's a figure of speech," Bruce responded with a sigh. "Now be down for dinner in ten minutes, okay? Alfred made Greenbean Casserole."

"Alright," Dick said with yet another sigh. Well, it looked like Bruce would never change his grounding tactics. Well, in a way that was okay. Mostly it was Bruce's way of showing that he cared, by having Dick take responsibility for his mistakes.

It still sucked that his weekend would be boring though...

Fin

**Reviews would be lovely! Tell me what you think!**


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